Candaules was so vehemently attached to his wife that in his passion he conceived her beauty to be beyond all competition.[15] Among those who attended near his person, Gyges, the son of Dascylus, had rendered him essential service, and was honoured by his particular confidence. To him he frequently extolled the beauty of his wife in exaggerated terms. Under the influence of a most fatal delusion he took an opportunity of thus addressing him:
“Gyges, I am satisfied that we receive less conviction from what we hear than from what we see, and as you do not seem to credit all I tell you of my wife’s personal accomplishments, I am determined that you shall see her naked.”
Gyges replied, much agitated, “What you propose is exceedingly improper. Remember, sir, that with her clothes a woman puts off her modesty. Many are the precepts recorded by wise men for our instruction, but there is none more entitled to our regard than that ‘it becomes a man to look into those things only which concern himself.’ I give implicit confidence to your assertions; I am willing to believe my mistress the most beautiful of her sex; but I entreat you to forbear repeating an unlawful request.”
Gyges, from apprehension of the event, would have persevered in his refusal; but the king could not be dissuaded from his purpose.
“Gyges,” he resumed, “you have nothing to fear from me or from your mistress; I do not want to make experiment of your fidelity, and I shall render it impossible for the queen to detect you. I myself will place you behind an open door of the apartment in which we sleep. As soon as I enter, my wife will make her appearance. It is her custom to undress herself at leisure, and to place her garments one by one on a chair near the entrance. You will have the best opportunity of contemplating her person. As soon as she approaches the bed, and her face is turned from you, you must be careful to leave the room without being discovered.”
Gyges had no alternative but compliance. At the time of retiring to rest he accompanied Candaules to his chamber, and the queen soon afterwards appeared. He saw her enter, and gradually disrobe herself. She approached the bed; and Gyges endeavoured to retire, but the queen saw and knew him. She instantly conceived her husband to be the cause of her disgrace, and determined on revenge. She had the presence of mind to restrain the emotions of her wounded delicacy, and to seem entirely ignorant of what had happened; although, among all the Barbarian nations, and among the Lydians in particular, it is deemed a matter of the greatest turpitude even for a man to be seen naked.
The queen preserved the strictest silence; and in the morning having prepared some confidential servants for the occasion, she sent for Gyges. Not at all suspicious that she knew what had happened, he complied with the message, as he had been accustomed to do at other times, and appeared before his mistress. As soon as he came into her presence, she thus addressed him:
“Gyges, I submit two proposals to your choice: destroy Candaules and take possession of me and of the Lydian kingdom, or expect immediate death. From your unqualified obedience to your master, you may again be a spectator of what modesty forbids: the king has been the author of my disgrace; you also, in seeing me naked, have violated decorum; and it is necessary that one of you should die.”
Gyges, after he had somewhat recovered from his astonishment, implored her not to compel him to so delicate and difficult an alternative. But when he found that expostulations were vain, and that he must either kill Candaules or die himself by the hands of others, he chose rather to be the survivor.
“Since my master must perish,” he replied, “and, notwithstanding my reluctance, by my hands, tell me how your purpose shall be accomplished?”